A Spanish cyclist was saddled with acute embarrassment after he passionately celebrated winning a Tour of California stage – without realizing he had one lap to go.

Eloy Teruel screamed and pumped his fists in the air as he crossed what he thought was the finishing line of the prestigious event’s penultimate seventh stage in Pasadena.

But his unbridled joy quickly turned to humiliation as it became apparent that Saturday’s race wasn’t over. There was another lap of a 3.1mile (five kilometre) circuit left to pedal around.

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Oops: Eloy Teruel mistakenly raises his arms, thinking he had won the seventh stage of the Tour of California in Pasadena on Saturday

However, the Spaniard saw the funny side, and tweeted: ‘I wanted to win, luckily no one has seen. Hahahahaha.’

He joins a long list of sports stars who've celebrated prematurely, which includes Alex Cujavante coasting towards the finishing line during the 2010 Roller Speed Skating Championships in Colombia with his arms raised in victory, only to be overtaken in the final few yards and Lindsey Jacobellis indulging in a victory 'tail-grab' in the 2006 Winter Olympics snowboard cross - only to fall over before the finishing line.

The real winner: Peter Sagan, left, of Slovakia

Wheel-y fast: Bradley Wiggins (centre) was the overall winner of the Tour of California

Cheeky: Bradley Wiggins receives congratulatory kisses as the overall winner of the Tour of California

Overall victory of the event went to former Tour de France winner Sir Bradley Wiggins, with fellow Briton Mark Cavendish sprinting to the final-stage win.

Wiggins came home in the front group at the end of the hilly 76.1-mile (121.7-kilometre) eighth stage to finish the race in Thousand Oaks 30 seconds ahead of Rohan Dennis (Garmin-Sharp) and claim his first win of the season.

And he paid tribute to the team-mates who supported him over the three ascents of the Rock Store climb.

Scenic: The peloton climbs the foothills of Mount Hamilton during stage three of the 2014 Tour of California from San Jose to Mount Diablo

Wiggins said on the Team Sky website: ‘I say it every day, but without those guys I wouldn't be in this position.

'You can't do it on your own and, as strong as my performance was individually in the time trial, my team have taken the strain all week.

‘Those young Americans in my team, Joe (Dombrowski), Ian (Boswell) and Danny (Pate) have done a fantastic job. Even today they didn't give up the chase and came back after they'd been distanced on the climbs. This is a fantastic way to finish.’